MNeu Wiki Articles/Calendar of FedCom
The Federated Commonwealth of Malatora does not officially use the traditional Gregorian Calendar. Instead, FedCom uses a variant of the World Calendar, with the epoch (zero year) coinciding with the year that mankind launched its first artificial satellite into orbit, marking the dawn of the Space Era (SE), and the end of the Terrestrial Era (TE). Thus, the Gregorian year "1957 AD" is equal to the Malatorian year "0 SE". The Malatorian date can be expressed in two ways. First, it may be written in a manner similar to that used by much of the world for expressing Gregorian dates: for example, 20 April 53 SE (Malatorian) is the same date as 20 April 2010 AD (Gregorian). This is the "casual" manner of writing the date. For official documents, the "decimal" format is employed, disposing of the month names and condensing the entire date into a string of numbers, ordered from year to month to day: the previously used example would be written as 53.04.20. When using this condensed format, it is also possible to attach the time, utilizing either the standard 24-hour clock, or decimal time. Thus, if the time for our example day is 4:75 PM, we could write 53.04.20:16:75 (preferred by the military) or 53.04.20.7 (preferred by historians when greater accuracy is not available). The calendar is perpetual, meaning the only thing that changes over time is the year, allowing people to memorize this calendar and use it as they would any ordinary clock. The calendar does not have to be reprinted each year, and holidays always appear on the same date. There are two intercalary dates (dates that exist outside the calendar). If they were numbered, these days would fall on June 31 and December 31. Both days are treated as holidays. Even though they technically occur outside the week structure, businesses treat them as extended weekends. "Leap Day" (X''' above) only appears on leap years (it is skipped on standard years). The method for calculating leap years is identical to that used for the Gregorian calendar. Because the epoch reset resulted in odd Gregorian years occurring simultaneously with even Malatorian years, this calendar's leap years generally occur the year after the Gregorian calendar has a leap year. "Year's End Day" ('''W above) and is regarded as a general holiday (similar to New Year's Day). This intercalary day appears every year. Because the months have differing numbers of days, and the leap day is in a different place, the Malatorian calendar shifts up to two days out of sync with the Gregorian calendar. The degree of shift depends on the presence of a leap year or not. The shift makes precise date conversions slightly more complicated, but tables like these simplify the process. Typically, only important historical dates are converted with such precision. Less important dates, like birthdays and some holidays, are usually just assigned the original Gregorian date, since the loss or gain of a day or two is considered trivial for such matters, and most people are accustomed to their birthday's Gregorian date anyway. Special Events & Holidays Nationally Recognized Holidays: *Leap Day - (intercalary day; after June 30, but only on leap years) *Arbor Day - (July 14) *Cosmic Day - (October 4) *Year's End Day - (intercalary day; after December 30) Popular Holidays (Unofficial): *New Year's Day - (January 1) *Halloween - (October 31) *Thanksgiving Day - (November 23) *Christmas Eve - (December 24) *Christmas Day - (December 25 Other Events: *Founder's Birthday - (April 11) *FedCom's Birthday - (May 27) *Flag Day - (June 1) Category: FedCom